STORIES FROM THE PAST

50 years ago

The State Department of education has approved $58,893.00 for a project by the county education center in the field of migrant education.

The money will be used by schools throughout Imperial County for the balance of this school year to educate the migrant child. Specifically, the funds will be used to sponsor remedial programs emphasizing English as a second language, for the purchase of special equipment and materials to improve learning opportunities, extended health services the use of bilingual nurse aides and speech therapy and psychological services.

40 years ago

CALEXICO — Taxable sales for the fourth quarter of 1976 for Calexico totaled $14,898,000, down $5,475,000 from the same period a year ago, according to preliminary statistics released this week by the state Board of Equalization.

The figures represent a decrease of about 25 percent. The sharp decline is attributed at least in part to the devaluation of the peso and the subsequent loss in purchasing power of traditional Mexicali shoppers.

City Hall officials earlier had said a loss in taxable sales for the fourth quarter would not necessarily require a cutback in city projects this year.

30 years ago

Imperial Irrigation District Director John Benson placed the San Diego County Water Authority in the forefront of the district’s water transfer negotiations Tuesday night but offered credit for the move to Director Bill Condit.

Benson said it was time to stop dealing with the “backward thinking people of the Metropolitan Water District” and asked the board to approach the San Diego district directly as a potential buyer for the district’s water.

“I think that now is the time to negotiate with San Diego,” Benson said. “They have the most to lose in a drought, and the most to gain” by dealing with the district.